Early Program Highlights from the Leadership Pipeline

Building Leaders of Color (BLOC) National Leadership Training Project

The BLOC Regional Trainings will be hosted January – March 2018 in Atlanta, GA, Linthicum Heights, Maryland and Phoenix, AZ (The application process is closed and announcement letters will go out in January 2018). The program will train 60-70 new HIV-positive leaders through a seven-month training program to include a three-day training in person, monthly webinars, conference calls, and mentorship. The BLOC program will train this new group of leaders to increase the number of Persons of Color Living with HIV who are prepared to engage in leadership roles and activities related to HIV service delivery. The new BLOC leaders will identify opportunities to actively engage and participate meaningfully in decision making bodies and planning boards in their local community to improve health outcomes for people living with HIV.

It’s back: BLOC TOT- NMAC, the National “Building Leaders of Color (BLOC) Training of Trainers (TOT) Training Institute May 2018. The TOT builds on the National and Regional Trainings and partners Ryan White Part A & B grantees with a local partner of color living with HIV. The teams train on the BLOC program curricula so they can return to their local communities and train People of Color Living with HIV.  Each team will conduct three local/regional trainings over the period of seven months. The 2018 applications will be launched in March 2018.

The Youth Initiative is sponsored by NMAC in collaboration with ViiV HealthcareMagic Johnson Foundation, and Advocates for Youth. In 2018, the Youth Initiative Scholars will engage in numerous community and national opportunities to bring awareness to needs of youth impacted by HIV. The Youth will engage in activities for HIV Youth Awareness Day (April 10) and National HIV Testing Day (June 27). NMAC will launch applications in March 2018 for a new cadre of Youth Scholars to join the Youth Initiative to take action to end HIV/AIDS in their communities via educational training, professional development, and networking opportunities. Scholars will also will attend an in-person training institute during the US Conference on AIDS (USCA) September 6-9 in Orlando, FL.

In late February 2018 NMAC will launch Youth- Building Leaders of Color (Y-BLOC) National Leadership Training. Y-BLOC, a specially designed BLOC training targeted to engage youth of color living with HIV ages 18-24. The program will identify 20-25 youth of color living with HIV to engage and train Youth on leadership development, community engagement, how to effectively participate on planning bodies, medical and support care teams, boards of directors, and other efforts to address the goals of the National HIV/AIDS Strategy. Additional program descriptions and requirements will be available with the application launch.

The Leadership Café -Webinar mini- series: The Leadership Pipeline will host a summer series of webinars created by you. In Spring 2018, we will launch a request of topics to build PLWH capacity of PLWH leadership development, opportunities of engagement, and the HIV movement. The series will invite key leaders from the movement to partner with to bring you the most tools and expertise needed to advance our fight to end HIV.